


in other words (i love you)

by lizalilac



Series: Soft Goro Week 2020 [7]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Flowers, Fluff, Getting Together, Language of Flowers, Love Confessions, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Gestures, Soft Goro Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25365745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizalilac/pseuds/lizalilac
Summary: Soft Goro Week Day 7: Free DayIf someone told Ren that taking up a job at Rafflesia would lead to two anxious confessions between him and Goro via bouquets and flower language, he would’ve thought they were insane. However, he had no choice but to believe it, as that’s exactly how it went down.(Or, four times Goro bought flowers from Rafflesia and one time he got them for free.)
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: Soft Goro Week 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827298
Comments: 12
Kudos: 143
Collections: Day 7 - Free Day!, Marigolds Discord Recs





	in other words (i love you)

**Author's Note:**

> i posted this so so late but at least it's out there!! day 7, holy crap, i can't believe it's over. this was SUCH a fun week and i was incredibly happy to be able to participate and write something for every day of the week. thank you guys for all the support on all the fics, it means the world to me nwn
> 
> hope you enjoy this fic that's practically nothing but fluff, flower meanings are all at the end notes !! I was gonna do 5+1 things for this fic but it ended up as more of a 4+1 because I couldn't come up with a fifth scenario. also, title is from fly me to the moon - frank sinatra!! can you tell that i love his music to death lol

It’s been a relatively slow day at Rafflesia today, Ren noticed. Usually when he comes in for a shift, he’s running up and down trying to get bouquet orders ready, but this time he’s allowed a bit more breathing room. It’s not like nobody’s passing by, though. People come in every ten minutes or so, but it’s an incredibly relaxed day otherwise.

He looked over at where Morgana was perched, shooting him a tiny smile. “You doing okay?” Ren mouthed silently.

Morgana nodded wordlessly, stretching himself out with a small yawn. Ren chuckled, turning his attention to the storefront. Morgana wasn’t able to sleep too well last night, so Ren felt a bit bad for not being able to help in any way. At least he was able to nap up there while Ren worked.

Ren saw someone coming up to the store and immediately started with his customer service routine, pleasant smile and everything. “Welcome to Rafflesia, how may I help yo- Ah, Akechi?”

It was indeed Akechi, standing in front of the store and observing the various flowers on display. If Ren strained his ears, he could hear Morgana make a choked noise behind him. He turned to Ren with a tiny smile, nodding in acknowledgement.

“Good afternoon, Amamiya. I wasn’t aware that you worked here,” he noted curiously.

“I started a few weeks ago,” Ren clarified. “I work at a few more places but this is probably my favourite job, if I’m honest.”

“Not surprised, this place suits you quite well. You do seem like you’ve got an eye for aesthetics,” Akechi said with a quiet laugh. “But, ah… One of my coworkers got a promotion recently and I thought it’d be polite to give her a bouquet. Could you put together an arrangement to congratulate her?”

A congratulatory bouquet, huh. He already had a few flowers in mind, glancing behind him with a contemplative hum. “I can do that for sure, just give me a moment.”

He knew that yellow roses are a very good option when congratulating somebody, so he’d obviously include those. Daffodils too, as they are symbols of new beginnings. It would be a good idea to include some daisies for a flash of white, as well. They fit into the bouquet meaning, so why not?

The floral arrangement went into a box, then into Akechi’s arms after he gave his payment. He watched as the other took a look at the bouquet, nodding appreciatively.

“It looks amazing, thank you.”

“Make sure to fill out the card that comes with the bouquet. Come back if you ever need another one!” Ren offered with a wide smile. “I’m usually here on Mondays and Thursdays.”

“Haha, I’ll keep that in mind. See you later then,” Akechi said, turning to leave.

Ren hummed to himself, watching the boy walk away. He kind of wished they could hang out again sometime soon – he’d never admit it out loud, but he really enjoys their talks. Not to mention how easy Akechi is on the eyes. He didn’t think he could ever get tired of staring at the other, as he always finds something new about him every time he looks.

Sighing quietly, Ren had to wonder if he’s developing a crush. Not like he could help it when Akechi is like _that_. He’s so unbelievably pretty, and his voice is really soothing…

He snapped himself out of his thoughts as another customer came up to the shop. Get it together, Ren! He can indulge in his pining later, but right now he has to focus on work.

Ren was starting to rethink his decision to work at a flower shop. When this place gets busy, it’s _busy._ He could barely feel his feet from all the walking up and down today… At least the satisfied smiles on the customers’ faces made the work worth it.

He heaved a sigh, looking at his watch to check the time. Another half an hour until his shift ends, huh. Hang in there, Ren!

He just finished tending to a customer in line, bowing politely as she left with her incredibly specific order that somehow gave her a reason to yell at him. What was _he_ supposed to do about the fact that they didn’t have any more anemones today? Hanasaki wasn’t even here right now to back him up.

The rude customer’s place in line was quickly replaced by a familiar face that calmed his heart. He definitely wasn’t expecting to see Akechi back so soon, looking a little… down? He wasn’t in his usual clothes either, he was wearing something much more casual than Ren was used to seeing. Maybe he’s in disguise?

“Good afternoon, Akechi! Back again so soon?”

“Ah, yes. I kept your offer in mind,” Akechi spoke with a slightly strained smile. “Was that customer back there giving you trouble?”

He groaned, rubbing his temples. “Don’t get me started on her, she was a nightmare to deal with.”

“Haha, I’m sorry you have to deal with people like that. I know what it feels like, if that’s any reassurance,” he admitted, sounding a little bit exhausted at the thought of it.

“Really? Yikes, it must be even more of a pain for you.” Ren grimaced. He keeps forgetting how popular the guy is.

Akechi shook his head, chuckling. “I’m used to it, honestly. Though, uh, today’s bouquet won’t be quite as cheerful as last time. I’m going to visit a loved one’s grave today.”

Oh, that explained a lot about his expression. “I’m so sorry for your loss…”

“Don’t worry about it. After all, it happened a long time ago,” Akechi reassured, the smile on his face seeming a bit softer now. “Could you include lilies? They were her favourite flowers.”

“Of course!”

Ren was honestly a bit curious about who he’s visiting, but he didn’t really want to force Akechi into talking about it, so he decided not to ask. He took a few white lilies and made them the centerpiece of the bouquet, then built around them. He included a few stems of pink gladioli and white chrysanthemums, then decided to add some pink roses last minute to match the gladioli.

He put the arrangement into a box and handed it over to Akechi, letting him look at it. Akechi stared at it for a bit before looking up at him with a soft grin.

“Thank you, it looks beautiful. Ah…” He trailed off for a bit, lost in thought. “Expect me to visit sometime in the evening. I’ve found myself missing Leblanc’s coffee recently, haha.”

Ooh, he’s coming to Leblanc? His heart jumped at the thought of getting to see him a second time today. “I’d be happy to make you a cup later, we can talk too if you’re up for it?”

“Of course, I’d love that,” Akechi agreed, looking a little more uplifted than before, which was a huge success on Ren’s part. He got a genuine smile out of him!

“See you later, then!”

“Mmhm, see you.”

He was stuck working a shift without Hanasaki there for emotional support, _again._ His only saving grace was that it wasn’t so busy this time around, so he didn’t have to deal with too many customers. The only problem is that he seems to have the most horrendous luck with customers, as most of them end up being incredibly rude. What’s their problem? He can’t even call them out on their bullshit…

The occasional polite customer is always such a breath of fresh air when you’re dealing with picky people who absolutely _must_ get their way. Maybe he’ll have more luck if he changes his shift days? But that wouldn’t fit in too well with his schedule, so maybe not.

He found himself hoping that Akechi would come in today for whatever reason, just so that his growing headache could ease up a bit. The other tended to have that kind of effect on him, as if the mere sight of him was the cure to all of Ren’s troubles. Or maybe Ren’s just love-struck, who knows.

Ren sighed quietly, deciding to occupy himself by biting at the skin on his lip. Not a good habit of his, but at least it helped with his constant irritability these days. He got pretty good at figuring out when to stop tearing the skin off, as he didn’t want it to start bleeding.

“Amamiya?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin. Damn, maybe he was a bit _too_ lost in thought, not really a good idea when he’s at work. Wait, did he just manifest Akechi? Wow, think of the devil and he shall appear, apparently.

“Good to see you again, Akechi. Are you looking for anything specific today?” Ren asked, forcing himself to keep his smile small so that he doesn’t look like an overly excited puppy.

“Not really, but I’ve been wanting to brighten up my apartment a little bit. Maybe something rather low-maintenance? I’m not that good at caring for plants, as I’m usually too busy to.”

“A low maintenance plant to decorate a space, hm?” Ren repeated, immediately thinking of a certain flowering plant that he adores. He pointed them out to Akechi. “How about this little guy? These are peace lilies, all you need to do is put them somewhere with indirect lighting and water them when they start drooping a bit, which is around once a week. If you’re concerned about pests, you only need to wipe the leaves down occasionally.”

Akechi listened attentively, doing the endearing thing where he rests his hand on his chin when he’s deep in thought. “Peace lilies… They _are_ really pretty, and they’re low maintenance. You know what? I’ll take them.”

“Really? Perfect!” Ren knew they had a peace lily in a pot somewhere that a customer ordered today but decided not to take, so maybe he could give that to Akechi? He spent a moment looking for it, a victorious ‘aha!’ slipping past his lips when he saw it. He placed it inside of a box for easy carrying and gave it to Akechi with a grin. “Text me if you need any help taking care of it, okay?”

“Will do,” Akechi confirmed with a bright smile, handing him the payment for the plant. He gazed at the box in his hands, a happy glint in his eye. “Well, I’ll be off now. Thank you, Amamiya.”

“Come again!”

And just like that, Ren found himself looking forward to his shifts at Rafflesia, in hopes that he could see Akechi again. He didn’t even mind the occasional picky customer anymore, deciding that it’s a worthwhile sacrifice in exchange for even a short moment with his favourite person.

Though, of course, there was no guarantee that he’d be able to see him. Akechi got quite busy at times, and he might not need to buy flowers every day, so he wasn’t expecting him to drop by on every single one of his shifts.

Whenever he _did_ come, though, it was the highlight of Ren’s day. For example, today’s been a particularly shitty day at school consisting of chalk to the forehead and the mocking laughter of his classmates. Could people let him daydream in peace?

But it all seemed to get a bit better when he spotted the familiar sight of warm, maroon eyes. The same ones he was so, so smitten for. Ren grinned, waving at him as he walked up to the storefront.

“Good to see you again, Akechi!” He greeted.

“You too, Amamiya.” He couldn’t help but notice that Akechi looks a little tense today, picking at his gloves as if he’s… nervous? Did something happen, he wondered? “I’ve got a relatively, uh, specific order today.”

“That’s perfectly fine. Go ahead and tell me what flowers you need,” Ren said, taking out a notepad to jot down the specifics.

“Ah, thank you. I need white and pink daisies, pink alstroemeria and baby’s breath,” Akechi requested, still fiddling with his fingers. Oh? No wonder he looks so nervous, is he gonna confess to someone? Ren wrote the order down quickly and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach, looking up at Akechi with a teasing grin instead.

“Hmm, are you in love with someone, by chance?”

“That’s-!” Akechi’s cheeks went up in flames as the poor boy looked away, obviously embarrassed. Ren muffled his laughter into his hand, taking mercy on him.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to say it out loud. I’ll have your bouquet ready in just a moment,” he voiced before stepping away to find the necessary flowers. It served as a moment for Ren to clear his head, telling himself that he should be happy that Akechi found someone to make _him_ happy. He’ll… He’ll be alright.

The alstroemeria looked particularly bold among the daisies and baby’s breath, with their size and colour. It was honestly a beautiful arrangement and he couldn’t help feeling a bit proud of Akechi for choosing to put them all together. Even without the typical red that’s associated with love confessions, it looked… incredibly romantic.

He put the bouquet into a box, then handed it over to Akechi. “I hope they accept, you chose some really pretty flowers.”

Akechi worried his lip with his teeth, shoving the flowers back into Ren’s arms and effectively confusing him. Did he not want it anymore? Did he change his mind about confessing? Did Ren mess it up someho-

“They… they were meant for _you_ , so I’m glad you like the flowers. You don’t need to accept, I just wanted you to know.”

Ren repeated those words in his head a few times until they made sense, but by the time he understood, Akechi was already long gone. Holy… _Holy fuck._ Did Akechi just confess to him with a bouquet? Wait, _Akechi confessed to him?!_

Unsurprisingly, Hanasaki witnessed the entire thing and allowed him to take a short break to wrap his head around what just happened. God bless that woman. His heart felt like it was about to leap out of his chest, and for once, he didn’t mind the feeling.

Turns out it took him an entire week to register what happened. Getting his shit together took a half-assed plan involving a bouquet of his own, a request to Sojiro to close the café early, and a text to Akechi to come over to Leblanc. Not to mention his racing heartbeat, which made him feel incredibly jittery and anxious even though he knew _exactly_ how Akechi felt about him.

He still didn’t quite believe it. Why him, of all people? He wasn’t particularly attractive, nor was his personality particularly intriguing. Though, maybe Ren was just biased. If Akechi thought he was worth confessing to, then there must be something there.

Ren looked over at the compartment behind the counter where he hid the bouquet, taking a moment to look at all the flowers one by one. The deep red of the carnations and roses already spoke volumes about how he felt, but the tulips served as triple confirmation that he had it extremely bad. The pink lilies and white gardenias not only added colour variation to the bouquet, but they also provided a really sweet scent.

He felt his soul leave his body when he heard the bell ring above Leblanc’s door. Okay, Ren, calm down. It’s just the love of your life… Never mind, that thought singlehandedly kicked his heart back into overdrive. How did he get so lucky?

“Ah, good evening…” Akechi said hesitantly, looking around the store and probably wondering about the lack of customers.

“Welcome!” Ren greeted with a bright smile, gesturing for Akechi to sit at the bar. “Do you want the usual?”

“That’d be appreciated, thank you.”

“Coming right up.” Ren got to work immediately, busying his hands with the siphon to satisfy his urge to fidget with something. The rich aroma of the coffee soothed his heart as he poured it into a cup, which he set in front of Akechi.

He watched as Akechi took a slow sip from the coffee, paying no mind to the temperature. He looked significantly less tense now, with his closed eyes and the relaxed slope of his shoulders. Ren smiled fondly to himself, gazing at him lovingly until the other boy opened his eyes again.

“I’m quite curious, what did you call me over for?” Akechi asked, staring back at Ren. Knowing him, he already had an idea about what was going on, but needed Ren to confirm.

“I think you already know,” Ren teased, letting a tiny grin spread across his lips. “You didn’t give me enough time to answer your question, _Goro._ ”

Goro’s eyes widened at the name change, averting his gaze down to his coffee in an attempt to hide the redness of his cheeks and nose.

“Ah, right. Well…?” He prompted after a moment, blinking up at Ren curiously.

Okay, this is it. Deep breaths, Ren, deep breaths. He took the bouquet out of its hiding place, carefully concealing it behind his back. He felt Goro’s gaze follow him as he made his way over to stand beside him, finally holding out the bouquet and waiting for a reaction.

He heard Goro’s breath hitch, gingerly taking the bouquet from him and staring down at it for a moment, eyes full of an emotion that Ren couldn’t fully register until he looked up to meet Ren’s gaze. His eyes held so much affection and adoration and _love_ that Ren could hear his heartbeat inside of his ears.

“You really didn’t want to make it subtle, huh?”

“Nope! If I didn’t know you’d kick my ass for it, I would’ve shouted my answer from the rooftops.”

Goro’s lip twitched in an effort to hold back a grin, but he immediately burst into laughter a moment later. He set the bouquet onto the counter before standing up, wrapping his arms around Ren’s waist and holding him so, _so_ closely.

“I love you, Ren. I really do,” he whispered.

Ren brought his arms up around Goro’s shoulders and hid his wide smile into his neck, letting himself indulge in Goro’s embrace. The longer they stood there, enjoying each other’s warmth, the more Ren felt at peace.

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> 1st scene (congratulatory flowers): yellow roses (friendship, joy, (in japan, courage, inner strength)), daffodils (rebirth, new beginnings), daisies (innocence, purity)
> 
> 2nd scene (grave/funeral flowers): lilies (purity, rebirth, used for weddings & funerals both), white chrysanthemums (in japan/china/korea, lamentation, grief), pink gladioli (sincerity, strength, moral integrity), pink roses (gratitude, grace, appreciation)
> 
> 3rd scene (meaning doesn’t really matter here but I’m including it anyways): peace lily (peace, purity, innocence, harmony)
> 
> 4th scene (confession of love): white daisies (innocence, purity), pink daisies (innocent love, gentleness), white and pink daisies both (I only have eyes for you), pink alstroemeria (romance, playfulness), baby’s breath (everlasting love, purity)
> 
> 5th scene (confession of love part 2: electric boogaloo): dark red carnations (deep love, affection), red roses (passion, romance), red tulips (love, passion, my feelings are true), pink lilies (infatuation, admiration), white gardenias (secret love, you are lovely)


End file.
